Strength for the Hard Times
While every challenge offers us new chances to grow and learn and love, no truer words were ever spoken than the lyrics of a song by the late (great) poet, musician & activist John Denver:
Some days are diamonds; some days are stones.
Sometimes the hard times won’t leave us alone.
Sometimes the cold wind leaves a chill in my bones.
Some days are diamonds; some days are stones.
Since I have a friend who is facing one of those “stones” today, I thought I would share a story I often tell when conversation comes around to what in our lives has made us strong enough to face our fears.
It’s my story.
I have asthma. I have always had asthma, and have even faced death several times in emergency rooms and other much less technological places. When I was just a little girl, I was sick almost all the time, often for long days at a time. My saint of a mother sat up night after night rocking me, so I could breathe to the rhythm of the rocking chair. When I was older, I rocked myself, pulling each breath in, pushing each one out. When my back and shoulder muscles were exhausted from helping my clogged lungs pull air in and out, Mother rubbed my back or put extra pillow behind my shoulders. A woman of faith, she counted on God to keep me alive during my worst episodes.
One night when I was about ten, my wheezing resisted everything we tried. I grew more and more frantic, my breathing shallower and shallower. Mother began to cry. In frustration, she prayed out loud that she would give God anything for my asthma to be miraculously cured.
I had always assumed I would die of asthma sooner or later. I certainly didn’t expect God to reach down and make my illness instantly vanish. As Mother prayed that night, all I could think about was that she would never get the answer to her prayer, and it would be my fault.
Between gasps, I touched her on the shoulder and said, “Mama, instead of praying for the miracle of my asthma going away, pray that I will be able to get through it, no matter what.”
As I heard myself say those words in the middle of that horrible asthma attack, I remember some sort of self-knowledge descending over me, a kind of peace. I also remember feeling empowered, knowing I had been given a miracle: the miracle of the power of love and hope and courage.
Well, somehow I got through that night and many others like it as I grew into adulthood. Like all of us, I faced other emotional and personal challenges too, but strength and love and hope and courage have never let me down. Even now, I count on those things and offer them to others.. and, yes, I still believe in the everyday miracles God sets around me in the power of human potential.
Whatever you are facing, I hope your faith makes your stronger. I also pray that you will keep love and hope and courage close at hand. When you are ready to draw on its power, you will have all you need right inside your heart!
Oh, and in case you are wondering, my lifelong battle with asthma has continued, but these days I am much better. And my mother? Well, at seventy-eight, she is still there for me, asking God to watch over me, no matter what!
You see? Each of us can be a blessing!
Let me know who has been a blessing for you!
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June 20th, 2007 at 3:50 am
This article was inspiring and helps me with depression related to a betrayal I have endured and am still enduring. Things are getting better and I will get there throught the grace of God and friends. My grandchildren are an inspiration to me. Just today, we went to a waterpark and my twelve year old challenged me to go down the waterslides. One which has a tunnel was a challenged as I had asthma as a child and do not like enclosed places, but with his encouragement and him in the slide next to me, we started our journey to conquering my fear. Since I am sixty-six(nearly sixty-seven) with joint problems, it was even more a challenge. I got a big ego boost seeing the smiling faces and encouragement from the young people who worked the park. I bet they were surprised to see an old grandma ridng the slides. My grandchildren don’t think of me as old and that makes me feel like I can do things I know I can’t do. Sounds confusing, but the slide is an example of old age not stopping me from being young and having new experiences with my grandchildren. I never had these experiences with my grandparents and I do enjoy sharing happy times with my grandchildren . It lifts the curtain of my depression and lets in rays of sunshine to warm my heart. My prayers are God will grant me more of these experiences as my grandchildren and I share our lives.
April 28th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
i have been suffering from Asthma ever since i was little kid. i can only manage it by taking medicines and some food supplements. “
July 24th, 2010 at 7:23 am
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